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Yugo
Yugo (also called Hugo) is a main character from the animated OVA Battle Angel Alita and its 2019 film adaptation Alita: Battle Angel. He is an orphan boy trying to survive in the squalor of Iron City, but dreams of one day going to live on the sub-orbital satellite of Zalem. He is also the romantic interest of the protagonist Alita. In the OVA, Yugo is voiced in the Japanese version by Kappei Yamaguchi, Edward Glen in the Manga UK dub and by Spike Spencer in the ADV dub. In the 2019 film, he is portrayed by Keean Johnson. History OVA Several years before the events of the OVA, Yugo lived under the care of his older brother after their parents had disappeared. Yugo and his brother would often look up at Zalem in the sky, dreaming of one day going there and leaving the polluted Earth behind. Yugo's brother and his wife both worked for the Factory, he as an engineer and she as a security officer. One day, Yugo's brother decided to build a flying machine that he could use to get to Zalem, even though flying is against Factory law and punishable by death. Regardless of the risk, he was determined to achieve his dream and designed and built a balloon, completing it on Yugo's tenth birthday. However, that night, a hunter-warrior came and destroyed the balloon and killed Yugo's brother, whose wife had betrayed him to the Factory. During the events of the OVA, Yugo is working as a freelance mechanic performing odd jobs for Scrapyarders such as Dr. Daisuke Ido. During a job working on Ido's wind turbine, he meets the newly restored cyborg Alita. The two become fast friends and Yugo tells Alita about his dream to one day go to Zalem. However, as well as working as a mechanic, Yugo has also taken up a criminal career under the businessman Vector, who sends Yugo out at night to steal spines from cyborg citizens. This work pays extremely well until one night Yugo picks up a bounty hunter and is identified. Though he escapes the hunter, Yugo soon has a bounty put on his head by the Factory. Alita meets with Yugo after finding out about the bounty on him. Yugo decides to take his chances on Vector's promise and says goodbye to Alita, but Alita tells him that she loves him and wants to know how he feels about her. Yugo admits that he feels the same way and the two kiss. While sheltering from the rain, Yugo tells Alita about his brother and how his wife had betrayed him to the Factory. He tells Alita that he needs 10 million credits in order to buy his way to Zalem and has only 500,000 more to go. Alita offers to give him the 600,000 credits she's made from collecting bounties and tells him that she wants to go to Zalem as well and will quickly make enough money from bounty-hunting to follow him. She then tells Yugo to go gather what he has and see Vector, but as Yugo leaves the derelict warehouse he is ambushed by the hunter-warrior Gime and stabbed. Alita battles against Gime and kills him, but Yugo is quickly bleeding out. As Alita cries holding Yugo's head in her lap, she is approached by Ido's former partner Chiren. Chiren offers her help and manages to connect Yugo's brain to Alita's own life-support system, keeping his head alive long enough for Alita to get him to Ido's surgery. There, Ido transplants Yugo's head onto a cyborg body and saves his life. After the surgery, Ido sits and talks with Alita about what happened. He tells her that it will take more than money for Yugo to go to Zalem, explaining that he came from there himself and that the Factory only allows people on Zalem with particular talents and skills, and so despite all his effort, Yugo will never be allowed there. Unfortunately, Yugo overhears this while in recovery and runs out of the surgery. Expecting Yugo to do something desperate and reckless, Ido tells Alita to go after him. Determined to reach Zalem no matter what, Yugo attempts to climb one of the massive support and supply tubes anchoring Zalem to Earth. However, a series of spiked rings occasionally pass along the tubes that are designed to prevent exactly what Yugo is trying to do. Refusing to give up, Yugo keeps going, jumping the rings as they come. He misses a jump and loses his feet, forced to continue up the tube by crawling. As Yugo nears the satellite, Alita catches up to him and begs him to come home. At first Yugo refuses, but Alita gets through to him by telling him that he can be safe and happy with her, regardless of where they are. Yugo agrees, but at that moment another spiked ring slides down the tube and Yugo's artificial body is smashed to pieces. Alita leaps up and grabs Yugo, who is now reduced to his head, his chest and his right arm. Alita uses her knife to anchor herself to the tube while holding onto Yugo's hand, but the cables in the arm are damaged and ready to snap. In his final moments, Yugo looks up at Alita with a look of content and smiles, thanking her. The cable in his arm then gives and Yugo plummets through miles of open air to his death with a smile still on his face. After Yugo's death, Alita returns home with only Yugo's arm. She and Ido build a small balloon and place Yugo's arm along with Chiren's earring inside the basket before letting the balloon rise up into the sky. Film Hugo's character in the 2019 film is largely the same as his OVA counterpart, though there are some significant differences. His previous backstory regarding his brother is completely absent in the film, though he and Alita spend a good deal more time together compared to the OVA and their bond is more developed. For instance, Hugo doesn't know Alita is a cyborg when he first sees her, only realising after getting a good look at her arm. He takes her around Iron City on his moped, introduces her to chocolate and to the sport of Motorball, inviting her to play in a toned-down street version of the game. Like in the OVA, Hugo is still working for Vector, ambushing cyborgs on the street to steal their components. However, he eventually decides that his desire to reach Zalem isn't worth it and decides to leave his gruesome work behind, much to the annoyance of his friend Tanji who blames Hugo's change of heart on Alita, whom he never liked. Unfortunately, Hugo is discovered by the hunter-warrior Zapan, who kills Tanji and pursues Hugo through the city. Hugo calls Alita while she is in the middle of a Motorball game where the other contenders are trying to kill her. Alita leaves the stadium, dispatching each of the cyborg mercenaries following her, and catches up to Hugo just as Zapan uses his Damascus Blade to stab the boy. Alita takes Hugo inside an empty building where Hugo confesses his crimes to her, as well as his love for her. As Hugo bleeds out, Chiren appears and offers to help Alita save him. She removes Hugo's head and connects his brain to Alita's core, keeping him alive long enough to get him to Dr. Ido's clinic. With Hugo's head under her coat, Alita claims the bounty on him, robbing Zapan of his reward. In an act of revenge, Alita also steals the Damascus Blade from Zapan and uses it to slice off his face. Alita takes Hugo's head to Ido who builds a cyborg body for him, but while Alita confronts Vector at the Factory, Hugo awakes and runs away towards the supply tube supporting Zalem and climbs it. After Vector is dead, Alita goes after Hugo and tries to convince him into coming home with her. From there, Hugo's fate plays out exactly how it did in the OVA: a defence ring runs down the tube and destroys Hugo's limbs, and although Alita manages to grab his remaining arm, it buckles and comes off, causing Hugo to fall through the clouds to his death.Category:Animated Characters Category:Anime Deaths Category:Battle Angel Alita Category:Main Characters Category:Children Category:Humans Category:Tragic Deaths Category:Last to Go Category:Cyborgs Category:Death by Falling Category:Multiple Incarnations Category:Alita: Battle Angel Category:Movie Deaths